Edible pot warning issued by Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
Your kids can’t tell if that brownie on the counter contains cannabis just by looking at it, so keep it locked up and out of their reach.
That’s the gist of new online messages that the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) hopes will alert caregivers to the risks edible cannabis products pose to children.
The federal government legalized recreational sales of dried and fresh cannabis on Oct. 17, 2018 and plans to legalize the sale of edible marijuana products by Oct. 17, 2019.
The WRHA posted a video with a few notable cannabis warnings on its Twitter account Friday.
“Making edibles with your cannabis? Your child can’t tell that it’s not a regular brownie. Keep it out of sight and locked away,†a post related to the video states.
The video itself includes an image of a small child reaching for a brownie and concludes with the written warning “legal doesn’t mean harmless.â€
Dr. Joss Reimer, medical officer of health for the WRHA, said the messages are meant to ensure the public is educated on the risks of edible cannabis before it is legally sold.
“Kids can actually get really sick from a large amount of cannabis and the smaller the kid, the smaller the amount that’s required to make them sick. We tend to hear the message for adults that you can’t die from an overdose of cannabis but that’s not necessarily true for kids,†said Reimer.
The WRHA is also developing ways to better track how many kids are hospitalized after consuming cannabis, she said.
“While we haven’t seen any changes in kids presenting with overdose yet, it is something that we plan to watch,†said Reimer.
The doctor also advises parents not to smoke cannabis in front of their children, since second-hand pot smoke is believed to be harmful.
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